Equality and Diversity

At St George's Church of England we welcome our duties under the Equality Act 2010. The school’s general duties, with regards to equality are:

Eliminating discrimination.
Fostering good relationships.
Advancing equality of opportunity.

We will not discriminate against, harass or victimise any pupil, prospective pupil, or other member of the school community because of their:

Gender.

Race.
Disability.
Religion or belief.
Sexual orientation.
Gender reassignment.
Pregnancy or maternity.

St George's Church of England Academy aims to promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development, with special emphasis on promoting equality, diversity and eradicating prejudicial incidents for pupils and staff. Our school is committed to not only eliminating discrimination, but also increasing understanding and appreciation for diversity.

Aims to eradicate discrimination

St George's believes that a greater level of success from pupils and staff can be achieved by realising the uniqueness of individuals. Creating a prejudice-free environment where individuals feel confident and at ease is a commitment of the school. This environment will be achieved by:

Being respectful.
Always treating all members of the school community fairly.
Developing an understanding of diversity and the benefits it can have.
Adopting an inclusive attitude.
Adopting an inclusive curriculum that is accessible to all.
Encouraging compassion and open-mindedness.

We are committed to having a balanced and fair curriculum. We believe that our pupils should be exposed to ideas and concepts that may challenge their understanding to help ensure that pupils learn to become more accepting and inclusive of others. Challenging and controversial concepts will be delivered in a way that prevents discrimination, and instead promotes inclusive attitudes. We will also respect the right of parents to withdraw their children from classes which pose conflicts to their own beliefs.

Dealing with prejudice

St George's Church of England does not tolerate any form of prejudice-related incident. Whether direct or indirect, we treat discrimination against all members of our school with the utmost severity. When an incident is reported, through a thorough reporting procedure, our school is devoted to ensuring appropriate action is taken and a resolution is put into place which is both fair and firm.

At St George's Church of England Academy, our pupils are taught to be:

Understanding of others.
Celebratory of cultural diversity.
Eager to reach their full potential.
Inclusive.
Aware of what constitutes discriminatory behaviour.

The school’s employees will not:

Discriminate against any member of the school.
Treat other members of the school unfairly.

The school’s employee’s will:

Promote diversity equality.
Encourage and adopt an inclusive attitude.
Lead by example.

Equality and dignity in the workplace.

Our school does not discriminate in any way against the following protected charactersitics.

Age.,
Disability.
Gender reassignment.
Marital or civil partner status.
Pregnancy or maternity.
Race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin.
Religion or belief.
Sex or sexual orientation.

Equality of opportunity and non-discrimination extends to the treatment of all members of the school community.

The steps involved in meeting the needs of disabled persons that are different from the needs of persons who are not disabled include, in particular, steps to take account of disabled persons' disabilities. Compliance with the duties in this section may involved treating some persons more favourably than others: but that is not to be taken as permitting conduct that would otherwise be prohibited by the relevant legislation.

All staff members are obliged to act in accordance will the school’s various policies relating to equality.

We will guarantee that no redundancy is the result of direct or indirect prejudice. All disciplinary procedures are non-prejudicial, whether they result in warnings, dismissal, or any other disciplinary action.

What's next?.

Prejudice is not tolerated at St George's Church of England Academy and we are continuously working towards a more accepting and respectful environment for our schools community.

TEACHING AND LEARNING - No Outsiders

At St George's Church of England Academy, we believe in the importance of equality and everybody having the same opportunities. This is modelled by our staff and taught through lessons and other experiences both discretely and explicitly. One of the subjects that this is taught through is the subject of PSHE.

As part of our PSHE curriculum, we enhance our 1 Decision curriculum by including a scheme called No Outsiders. This scheme was created by Andrew Moffat MBE, who was nominated for the Global Teacher Prize in 2018-19. No Outsiders has three core values:

Respect for diversity through education in schools;
Commitment to community cohesion through understanding and acceptance of difference;
Promotion of dialogue to counter fear and hate in society.

No Outsiders is a scheme that was introduced at our School in 2023 -2024 and it involves the use of age appropriate story books (see below for a list of the books we use) to teach about seven of the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010. These include:

age;
disability;
gender reassignment;
race;
religion or belief;
gender;
sexual orientation.

It is important we create a school culture in which children, staff and the whole school community work together to foster an environment of inclusivity through effective spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) and character education.

We believe that it is vital that our pupils can discuss inappropriate and discriminative language and understand how to address boundaries in order to prepare them for a future in modern Britain.

We strive to ensure that our pupils are surrounded by a consistent message:

There are no outsiders here;
Everyone is different;
We like being different;
We are all equal in our difference;
I can get along with you even if we are different;
We live in the U.K., our British values support this and the law says this too.

We will work alongside our families, parents and carers to deliver this message of inclusivity. You are very welcome to call in to see your child’s class teacher to discuss this approach and to view the picture books we use for this.

At St George's Church of England Academy, there are no outsiders – Everyone is welcome!

No Outsiders - Parent Booklet

OUR NEWS

Black History Month - October 2023

During the month of October we are celebrating Black History Month.

This year 2023, the 36th Black History Month in the UK will be celebrated - the first was in 1987.

Black History Month is a way to celebrate and recognise the contribution of Black people to British society. Black History Month in the UK celebrates the History, Arts and Culture of Black British people.

Everyone can participate in Black History Month by championing, and celebrating diversity and embracing its theme through demonstrating inclusivity and challenging bad behaviours.

Each year group, apart from EYFS, will be focusing on an individual who changed perceptions, stereotypes, pushed boundaries and gave hope for future generations through their artwork

Early years will be focusing on Alma Thomas

Key Stage 1 will be focusing on the story of Belle, the last mule at Gee's Bend and will be recreating the quilt from the story.

Year 3 - 4 will be looking at the story Tar Beach and focusing on the artwork of Faith Ringgold.

Year 6 will be focusing on the story of the windrush generation through Floella Benjamin and Benjamin Zephaniah.

Black History Month in Pictures 2023

Whilst Black History is celebrated year round at St George's. we also celebrate it annually in the month of October. During this month, we recognise and value inspirational individuals and events that have shaped history. We remember and celebrate the important people from the past and also those who have contributed and helped our society today. This year we have focused on the work and impact that famous Black artists have had.

Early Years

During Black History Month, early years have used the work of Alma Thomas as a starting point. They have read the story "Alma's Art" by Roda Ahmed. Alma was a little known African American Artist who made her national debut at the age of 80. She used vertical lines, horizontal lines, and simple shapes in all different colours to create her artwork. Her artwork couldn't have fitted in better as in early years as they are exploring the pre-writing patterns and now they can celebrate all different colours just like Alma.

Nursery and Reception

Years 1 and 2

Years 1 and 2 have taken inspiration from the "The Quilters of Gee's Band" and the work of British Textile Artist, Althea McNish to produce their own sections of a collaborative quilt. Year 1 collaged colourful strips of paper while Year 2 used wax crayons and water colour for a resist effect.

Years 3, 4 and 5

These year groups have been focusing on the artwork of Faith Ringgold as part of Black History Month. They have been inspired by the illustrations that Faith drew in her book "Tar Beach". It is the story of Cassie, who had a dream to be free to do whatever she wants. As part of this dream, she flies high over the George Washington Bridge.

Year 3 have worked together to create a collaborative quilt to recreate the image of Cassie flying over the bridge. Whilst Year 5 have recreated the image using pastels.

Year 4 have also explored the life of Rosa Parks and the impact she has had on the civil rights movements. They have created some lovely fact files about her life and the impact she had.

Year 6

This year group have looked a Floella Benjamin "Coming to England" and Benjamin Zephaniah's "We Sang Across the Sea" to discuss what life was like for the Windrush Generation and the prejudice they faced.

They made connections with the prejudice faced by the Jewish people during World War 2 which links with their current history topic.

The children then created fact files about Windrush and created some Windrush art inspired by Darlington's recent 75 years celebration at the Arthur Wharton Foundation.

Red Card for Racism Competition 2023 - Week Beginning February 13th 2023

We are proud to announce that children from Year 1 to Year 6 have been taking part in the Annual Red Card for Racism School Competition. This week they have been busy designing a tee-shirt with their own messages and slogans about how to stop racism. The competition has been running for 25 years and has become one the biggest equalities competition in the UK with over 23,600 entrants last year from more than 340 schools. We are extremely proud of all the children’s hard work and the beautiful tee-shirts they have design. We hope you enjoy looking at some examples of the tee-shirts our creative children have designed.

Red Card for Racism Competition 2024 - Week Beginning February 26th, 2024

We have again entered the Annual Red Card for Racism School Competition. This week, the children from Year 1 to Year 6 have been taking part in the Annual Red Card for Racism School Competition. The standard of designs was very high and it was difficult for class teachers to decide on sending 3 tee-shirts to be entered into this competition. We are extremely proud of all the children’s hard work and the beautiful tee-shirts they have design. Here are out entrants for this year's competition.

International Women's Day - 8th March 2023

Here’s to strong women.
May we know them.
May we be them.
May we raise them
Anonymous

Since it’s conception in 1975, International Women’s Day has commemorated the struggle for women’s rights and gender equality. Each year this event campaigns on the increasing need for women’s rights. The event takes place on 8th March every year.

Here at, St. George’s we are joining to celebrate the power of women all over the world.

Commemorating International Women’s Day is at the heart of our school values. We want to encourage all our children to have the human values of compassion, patience and respect. We also want to make sure that nobody is left without a voice. Teaching our children the importance of mutual respect is key to ensuring that everyone is treated with the same respect.

This week each class or year group has chosen to focus on a woman that has inspired them:

Early Years - Beatrix Potter - Novelist, Conservationist and Botanist

Year 1 - Rosa Parks

Year 2 -

Year 3 -

Year 4 -

Year 5 -

Year 6 -

Here are some of example of the word we produced as part of International Women's Day.

Early Years - Nursery

Nursery has kicked off International Women's Day with a lovely book entitled "Girls Can Do Anything" By Caryl Hart. The message of the book is that girls are amazing. They are strong, brave and proud and they can dream big.

Our children have been dreaming big in early years and looking to the future of what they would like to be when they grow up. Some of their future aspirations are as follows, can you guess what your child said:-

Farmer, Fireman, Princess, Mrs Gill, Superhero, Batman, Police Officer, Peter Rabbit, Ballerina, Cook, Dog Walker, Pilot, Spiderman, Mario, Pirate, Ninja, Superhero, Vet, Runner, Councilor, Swimmer, Train Driver, looking after Pigs, Spiderman and a Diver.

We have enjoyed using the paints to create pictures of what we would like to be when we are big just like our Mummies and Daddies.

We would say to all of our children in nursery that they are all special and that we are very proud of them. We look forward to seeing their dreams materialise in the future as we believe in everyone of you!

Beatrice Potter

As part of International Women's Day, we have focused on the life of Beatrix Potter. We have enjoyed reading and looking at the books she wrote. Our favourite story is the one about 'The Tale of Peter Rabbit." A very naughty bunny who goes into Mr McGregor's garden and eats all of his vegetables." We have created our very own storybooks about Peter Rabbit just like Beatrix did all those years ago. We were sad to learn that nobody wanted to make her books so she made them herself. What a strong and brave woman she was!

We have also learnt that Beatrix had a passion for the countryside and being outside. She loved nature! You would often find her surrounded by plants and animals and she love to draw and paint them. We have enjoyed using watercolours to paint pictures just like Beatrix did. That is why all of her books are about animals that you can find in the Lake District. Beatrix especially liked to draw mushrooms and toadstools and her paintings contributed to a deeper understanding about the world of these. We have also enjoyed looking carefully at the vegetables that grew in Mr McGregor's garden and completed some observational drawings.

She had lots of animals on her farm in the Lake District where she farmed and looked after Herdwick Sheep. Herdwick sheep have grey bodies and pretty white faces. Beatrix was passionate about farming and the land in the district that she brought lots of it and then gave it to the National Trust so we can still enjoy the beauty of her countryside today!

St Georges Church of England Academy

St George's
Church of England Academy